Effects of Perinatal Food Restriction on Synapticity in Hippocampal CA1 Area in Adult Offspring Rats
围产期食物限制对子代成年大鼠海马CA1区突触可塑性的影响

Perinatal food restriction induces neurobiological changes, including deficiency in learning and memory, in rat offspring. However, the mechanism is still unclear. The females were paired with the males. Afterwards, the pregnant rats were assigned radomly into two groups: the control group and the model group. In the control group (n=9), dams had free access to diet and water during gestation and lactation. In the model group, dams (n=8) received 50% of the daily food intake of control mothers from gestation day 7 until the postnatal day 21. Spatial learning and memory ability was tested in Morris water maze in adult offspring rats. Afterwards, the in vivo field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) was observed in the hippocampal CA1 area. In addition, the density of nNOS neurons in hippocampal CA1 area was recorded using immunohistochemistry. The results showed that the perinatal food restriction reduced body weight of offsprings on postnatal day (PD)1, PD7, PD10, PD14 and PD21, and impaired learning and memory of adult male offspring rats. This type of food restriction also decreased fEPSP slope of long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal CA1 area. Importantly, the density of nNOS positive cells in hippocampal CA1 area was decreased by this type of food restriction. These findings suggested that perinatal food restriction impaired synaptic plasticity by reducing the product of NO in hippocampal CA1 area, and induced learning and memory disturbances in offspring rats.